The invention relates generally to semiconductor integrated circuits, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for fabricating a spherical-shaped semiconductor device.
Conventional integrated circuits, or "chips," are formed from a flat surface semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer is first manufactured in a semiconductor material manufacturing facility and is then provided to a fabrication facility. At the latter facility, several layers are processed onto the semiconductor wafer surface. Once completed, the wafer is then cut into one or more chips and assembled into packages. Although the processed chip includes several layers fabricated thereon, the chip still remains relatively flat.
One processing step that is performed in the fabrication facility is to deposit a metal film on the surface of the chip. Because the surface may have both silicon (Si) and silica (SiO.sub.2), a contact layer and a glue layer must first be deposited on the Si and SiO.sub.2 surfaces. High vacuum sputtering is usually needed to firm the contact and glue layers. Once the contact and glue layers have been formed on the surfaces, the metal film can then be deposited. It is desirable, however, for the process of depositing a metal film on Si and SiO.sub.2 surfaces to be simplified.
In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/858,004 filed on May 16, 1997, assigned to the same assignee as the present application and hereby incorporated by reference, a method and apparatus for manufacturing spherical-shaped semiconductor integrated circuit devices is disclosed. The present invention is specific to an apparatus and method for depositing metallic films on the surface of the spherical shaped devices using inductively coupled plasma.